Johnson Preseason Thunder press conference

Preseason Test at Las Vegas
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
January 31, 2006
JIMMIE JOHNSON, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
THE MODERATOR: Jimmie first off, out here for the test, this is your
first day on the track, just talk about how the...

Preseason Test at Las Vegas
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
January 31, 2006

JIMMIE JOHNSON, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS

THE MODERATOR: Jimmie first off, out here for the test, this is your
first day on the track, just talk about how the morning has gone so far.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: The morning has been fun. Daytona everybody always talks
about. It's really about the teams and the driver, doesn't have a chance
to challenge himself out there. Today it's been fun to get out in the car
and get that racing feeling back. We're working on some things, and today
is about getting a lot of things out of the way for the start of the
season, and I had my first spin. Thankfully we didn't hit anything. I
don't know, there's just something relieving about spinning, definitely
not hitting anything, but when you spin out and drive off, like, all
right, now that's behind me, now I can go forward. I feel very
accomplished this morning.

THE MODERATOR: Jimmie is also the defending champion, Jeff Burton and
Matt Kenseth both have gone back to back here; talk about your chances of
going back to back here in Vegas.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I would hate to screw that up to be honest with you.
Hopefully we can do that. Obviously there's a lot to be learned from the
start of the season. All of the teams have worked hard over the
off-season. Our Daytona tests went well, look to make are a lot stronger.
So hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to close the gap and get a little
advantage on those guys. But for the first day, first morning really back
in the car with new team members, just kind of trying to get everything
going again, we're on par.

Q. The new noses and back ends on the 2006 Chevrolet, how long will it
take to get those just the way you want them, or might they be a handicap
in the Daytona 500 instead of a plus?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: There really is actually more to it than just the nose
and the tail on the car. We actually have just as many changes to our car
as Ford has for theirs. We just don't have a new name on it. So there's
really changes from bumper to bumper. All 13 templates that sit on the
car have been adjusted some this year. So we virtually have a new car
that we are trying to work through. Everything we saw in the wind tunnel
for our downforce stuff was really strong. Typically your downforce stuff
carried over to Daytona and slowed the car down. One thing I believe we
have a lot of horsepower under the hood and put up some strong numbers in
the Daytona test, and then I think our guys have been creative to try to
do the right things for the Speedway car to take some drag out of it.
So all in all I think we've got a good compromise, and Chevrolet
dominating like they have, like they did last year, I think we're
building on that and we feel as the year wears on, we'll make this car
better than what we had last year.

Q. Talk about the prospect of the new GM engine.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I definitely think there have been a lot of changes. All
teams sit here and say we haven't had changes, everybody else has, but we
truly have been dealing with the same combination for quite a few years.
And obviously everybody is hopeful that we'll be able to make some
changes to stay on an even playing field with the other manufacturers
that are coming in. I think that's a big concern in general. We're very
happy with the changes we're getting this year, but I still think that if
we're allowed to have an equal block and an equal engine combination as
some of the other makes, we'll really be able to show what our teams are
capable of.

Q. You had an unusual winter, you got way out of town, I understand you
went to Africa, how was that and did it kind of like open your eyes to
like a whole new world and new adventures?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I would say that. I didn't come home and feel like
I could solve the world's problems. But being out on a safari, being
completely away from everything like I was, I spent a lot of great, great
quality time with my wife, was just able to forget about racing and all
of the other things and just enjoy being on vacation, being with her and
seeing and following animals. At one point we followed a pride of lions
for three different days, just watching them, seeing what they were going
to do. Of course, we went with Jeff and his girlfriend, Ingrid, on the
trip, and of course Jeff and I wanted to see the lions feed and the girls
were scared to death of that happening. So Jeff and I were eager to see
that. We didn't see it, but we saw them trap some animals and watched
them hunt and do their thing and be lions. It was pretty cool.

Q. More about the safari

JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, it's total photo of safari. I didn't own a nice
camera until that trip, so you can definitely see my photos develop as
the ways went by. The first three or four days weren't very good.

Q. We're sitting here, new car, with only six tests this year; this is an
extremely important test. How does it benefit you to have three other
teammates that you guys can kind of share the wealth back and forth?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Right now, I think all of us, all four Hendrick teams, we
just started the morning off with what we felt was the right thing for
our individual teams, and we're each on a similar plan but trying
different things. I think tonight is when we'll really see the benefit of
our four car team and all of the engineers and crew chiefs are able to
get together, look at the data and spend some time and really pour
through all of the information we've collected.

In most test sessions, it's really tough to react really fast to things
that are going on because you've got so many different censors on the
car, so many different things to look at; that in our experience it seems
that if we go home for a couple of days, sit on it, digest it, we're able
to come back or we can't come back but we come back to that race or the
following race the next weekend, bringing something new to the table. So
tonight is going to be a very important night for Hendrick Motorsports,
getting all of the members together and crew chiefs to sort through
everything and really work on a game plan for tomorrow.

Q. On the cars being utilized in the test

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I think that they are all really similar. You know, the
difference between our two cars, one was an early version car that we
built. And then after the complex cycled through building a car for
everyone, we had another shot; then it was our turn to build a new car.
We learned some things in that period of time and adapted it to the new
car.

So there are some subtle changes and we do feel that we have one car
that's a little better than the other but it's not a huge difference.
It's really important to us to make sure that all of the power plans have
the same horsepower, torque curves and the cars are as close to one
another as possible. So when we head off on our separate agendas, we are
actually comparing apples to apples, and you can really take the things
that we learn and cross over to the other cars.

Q. What are your views on the car tomorrow? Is it going to be better for
NASCAR or is it going to be a problem?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I think there's a lot of work ahead of everyone to get
that car in place. I definitely respect the hard work NASCAR is putting
forward to keep the show improving and make for better racing every year.
I do think that there are some things we need to recognize and understand
that you're never going to get rid of the aero push. It's not going to
happen. The lead car has all of the air. The cars behind it have less
air; that's just how it works. I look at that and say yes, we can improve
the cars and I think we've definitely learned things that we can do and
shouldn't do. And I think one good example of what we shouldn't do is
that five for five rule, I didn't drive the cars, but Jeff said they are
really tough to drive in traffic and that was a direction not to go in.
I think over team we've learned certain things do help the cars. One
thing I'm looking at is if we are on a racetrack and we know the lead car
has all the air and the advantage, what if we make a solid second lane
that's just as fast, or a third lane and a fourth lane? I think we've all
looked at Homestead and different tracks with progressive banking.
Martinsville, the asphalt roughened up the inside lane. I thought they
were smoothing it out; they roughened it up, gave us an option for a
second lane.

I think we need to look at the tracks as the next big thing in my opinion
and (ask) how can we make two and three lanes on a racetrack. I have to
give a lot of credit to Bristol. They are looking at their situation and
adjusting it. I think a lot of tracks are looking at that and from what I
hear, the Vegas track is as well. I think the more lanes we can provide,
the better the racing is going to be.

Q. With that in mind, what are your thoughts on the renovations they are
going to do to the racing surface here?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I just heard about it in passing today, so I don't really
have all of the information.

THE MODERATOR: The banking is going to go from 12 degrees to 20 degrees,
and the pit road is going to be moved almost 200 feet out to the start
finish line.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Pit road is tough to make under green flag conditions, so
that will make it a little easier on the drivers and obviously moving pit
road out would help the fans. I didn't know what to really think of
progressive banking. I raced at south Boston on their little small track
with progressive banking and really enjoyed it. I watched a lot of racing
at the Tucson track in Arizona. They used to have Winter Heat racing. Now
after racing on it myself in one of our cars, I definitely see the
advantages of it, and it's definitely something that a lot of tracks
should look at. I don't think it's a fix for every track; Daytona,
Talladega, there's no benefit to really having a progressive banking
track. I think once you get to a certain amount of banking, you're in
good shape.

Q. Do you want to get off to a quick start this year?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I think it's really important and that's been a
luxury that we've had each year. We've been able to get off to a quick
start and unfortunately right around the 23rd race in August sometime, we
slowed down and we've been second a few times in the championship and
then fifth last year. Looking back on it the last four seasons, I almost
want to get off to a slow start personally I'm kind of lying when I say
that. I would hope that I can peak in August and on, instead of at the
start of the season. I wish we could really plan and say, all right, this
is when we are going to do our best, blah, blah, blah, but making the
Chase is the first priority, and that's something that we have a big
focus on for the 48 team and all of Hendrick Motorsports. We want all
four cars in the Chase.

Q. Wondered if you can just comment on the development of your teammate
Kyle Busch, Rookie of the Year last year, a lot of people picking him as
a dark horse this year, talking about how quickly he's developed as a
driver?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I have to say Kyle and Brian both. When I look at their
age, I was the youngest driver at Hendrick Motorsports until Brian came
along, and then I felt bad and felt kind of old; and then Kyle came along
and made me feel even worse. Kyle has shown so much ability inside the
race car. I think we've all seen it with his victories last year at the
Cup level, Truck level and the Busch level, he's done amazing things in
the car. I think we take for granted that he is, what, 20, I guess now,
and that he, speak of the devil (entered the room), he has a lot of great
years ahead of him; he has a lot of speed, and I think he's definitely
more than a dark horse. I think the No. 5 and No. 25, you'll see amazing
things out of them this year and hopefully all four of us in the Chase
fighting for the Championship.

Q. How about No. 48 Chevys were in your garage last season, and did you
really need that many?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I'm not sure the total that we had. But I can say that
Hendrick Motorsports, we're in a fortunate situation where we don't need
to have the big inventory that other teams do because we have a chassis
shop on site. If we crash one, we send it down and if we destroy one, we
order a new one. Some of the single car teams and teams that don't have
their own fabrication shop or chassis shop, they need to buy 30 cars, put
them in a warehouse somewhere and use them as needed. We're not in that
situation, unless I crash a lot; we don't typically go through a lot of
race cars and a lot of chassis.